The real stars of the Jersey Shore aren’t Snooki and The Situation, they’re folks like the tremendously erudite and impossibly elegant NBC anchor Brian Williams, a Monmouth County homie of ours. Brian’s recent interview feature with Bruce was terrific, btw, both intelligent and fun.
Enjoying the autumn sunshine post-interview are me (Marilyn Laverty) and the awesome Mr. Brian Williams.
If you want to see the interview, here it is.
Shore Fire South’s location in Ocean Grove, NJ, keeps us up on the thriving NJ music scene and exposes us to many delightful artistic and spiritual neighbors who view OG as a mecca. Such was the gathering at the home of journalist and author Mary Walton, whose “A Woman’s Crusade: Alice Paul and the Battle for the Ballot” has been hailed by Ms. Magazine as “richly endowed…detailed, absorbing”. A former reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Mary dedicated her groundbreaking work on the NJ suffragette to legendary Inquirer editor Gene Roberts. Pictured: author Mary Walton accepts kudos from her friend Connie Ogden; both women are generous contributors to the Ocean Grove community.
We also met Paul Goldfinger (aka blogger Blogfinger) at the party…Paul has all the real inside skinny around Ocean Grove and Asbury Park, and describes his eclectic blog as a ‘digital breeze from the Jersey shore’…later I stopped by the Tumblety Howell Gallery, where artists such as Don Bernhardt, Sue Tumblety, and Joan Laufer toasted photographer Esta Singer on her first show at the gallery. I’m especially drawn to Esta’s cellphone shots of OG and Asbury in winter; they capture the solitude that I love about the beach at that time of year. Here, artist and gallery owner Peter Tumblety hangs with Esta and Marilyn Laverty while master framer Terry Howell greets a collector.
Last week, Shore Fire staffers Mark Satlof, Lauretta Charlton and Chris Brudzinski visited Shore Fire South for the day…here we gather for lunch at the legendary Windmill, home of the world’s best hot dog.
We worked hard all day but got a chance to sample the surf before Earl moved in…
As us Shore Fire folks strolled on into work yesterday morning, we had to make our way around a swarm of people who had gathered in front of the Brooklyn Courthouse. Turns out that modern day R&B icons John Legend, Melanie Fiona, Common and The Roots were filming a music video right across the street from the Shore Fire offices!
Unluckily for them (and those hoping to catch a glimpse of the stars), it started raining cats & dogs in the late morning and sent everyone running for cover.
Check out the action from our 16th floor view:
Can you spot the stars?!
In the summer of 2006 the idea of a company having its own blog was still the kind of thing that might get you a funny look.
Internet time sure does seem to move awfully fast, but at the time the Huffington Post had only just been founded, in 2005, and Twitter wouldn’t be incorporated as a company until April of the following year, 2007.
But we were fans of blogs, which at the time were quietly but rapidly changing from a great place to find out about music for geeks (like us) to being considered another of the many channels that comprise “The Media.”
So we created this, The Suite 16, using only a brilliant play on words (check our office address), some software from blogger.com, and a dream.
Four years and a couple hundred posts later, and now everyone’s grandmother has a blog, dogs and even cats have blogs, and most of us have some kind of mobile device in our jacket pocket that lets us read them on the train or at the beach.
And since four years is the classic time to schedule a graduation, here’s ours — a brand shiny new Wordpress blog with cool little boxes and all sorts of other stuff. Check it out, we hope you like it too. Welcome to the new new thing here at Shore Fire Media.
I must admit that I giggled (like the 12-yr.-old girl I am) when country crooner Cooper Boone told me that he wanted to make his “Jingle Balls” – a modified spherical butter cookie – on WPIX-TV.
Fortunately Spencer Mindich, Jill Nicolini and the rest of the PIX Morning News team remembered how much fun they had back in August when Coop brought in his recipe for Roasted Corn Salad and agreed to take a chance.
And everyone was glad they did as Coop proved his ability to deliver a fun, high-energy cooking segment full of comedy once again and we all got to feast at 8am on his chocolate/coconut/walnut encrusted butter cookies (a.k.a. Jingle Balls).
Watch their hysterical kitchen antics at:
http://weblogs.wpix.com/news/local/morningnews/blogs/2009/12/cooper_boone_1.html
We’ve been working with Jambase for ages, but hadn’t gotten to meet their San Francisco-based staff until recently, when CEO Dave Rosenheim and editor-in-chief Aaron Kayce stopped by to tell us why “Go see live music” is more than a motto for them – it’s a way of life. Because it was first thing in the morning, we brought in coffee and doughnuts – yum!
From left, Dave, Aaron, Chris Taillie and Andy Silva.
In the past few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to travel with the Hennessy Artistry 2009 Series and learned a few things along the way:
You always remember your first time. The first time you drove a car, the first time you heard Sgt. Peppers, the first time you and that girl (or guy) went to the movies and well… you get it. So, here we have it, my first post on The Suite 16. It feels good. I’m feeling loose. Limber. So, what to write about? The question has been vexing me for oh, about 5 seconds. I’ll try and answer the most important question probably on everyone’s mind when someone new comes to Shore Fire, what do they listen to? Ok, maybe not the most important question, but it’s a question.
To begin, sometimes my jeans may be a little “tight” and you may hear some sort of random, fuzzed-out, lo-fi, chill-wave, no-fi, post-gaze whatever coming out of the speakers on my desk. But I’m no indie elitist. I believe Townes Van Zandt is one of the greatest songwriters that has ever lived. But I’m no fool either. Bob Dylan is almost always tops for me. Cliche? Too easy? Sure, say what you’d like, I’ll stick by Bob anytime. Except for Self Portrait. Not so much there.
My favorite record of the year so far is a tie between The Antlers Hospice and The Dirty Projectors Bitte Orca. Yes, I also happened to really love the debut from Those Darlins. Oh well.
Furthermore to whatever point I’m making, I love The Drive by Truckers immensely, but I also love anything the Numero Group puts out, especially the Eccentric Soul series. Levon Helm is my hero, and Rick Danko had a voice of gold, so did Richard. I’m not so much a Robbie fan. Read This Wheel’s on Fire, you’ll see.
My favorite youngster that no one ever writes about is Ezra Furman, and my favorite old timer that no one writes about is Sam Baker. Except for Geoff Himes, he’s the one who turned me onto him.
I could go on and on – as everyone else in the office can, but I won’t. Thanks for reading, and come by anytime. I’ll listen to you ramble if you listen to me ramble. Fair deal.
In the final days of our current Facebook layout, I find myself feeling mixed emotions about the next wave of changes. Part of me is reassured that the new layout will soon become second nature and navigation will be no issue at all. For some … continued
